Philosopher
Tosaka Jun
1900–1945
Marxist student of Nishida and Tanabe who named the Kyoto School in 1932 and attacked it as bourgeois idealism; he died in prison in 1945.
Tosaka Jun studied with Nishida Kitarō and Tanabe Hajime. His own thought turned explicitly materialist and Marxist, and his critique had a significant effect on how the Kyoto School’s philosophies developed; ironically, some now count him, with Miki Kiyoshi, as its ‘left wing’.
He stayed on good personal terms with Nishitani Keiji despite their differences. Both Tosaka and Miki died in prison in 1945, punished for their intellectual resistance.
Key ideas
- Naming the Kyoto School
- In his 1932 essay ‘The Philosophy of the Kyoto School’, Tosaka gave the school the name it still bears, counting Nishida, Tanabe and Miki Kiyoshi among its members.
- Against bourgeois idealism
- From a materialist and Marxist standpoint, he accused the school of a bourgeois idealism that ignored material historical conditions and social practice.
- Tanabe made it a school
- Without Tanabe’s critical appropriation of Nishida, Tosaka argued, there would be no Kyoto School, only followers of Nishida rather than a school of related but independent thinkers.
- Tradition
- Japanese
- Region
- Japan
- Schools
- Kyoto School
- Period
- Modern Japanese
Influences
Influenced by
- Karl Marx1818–1883
- Nishida Kitarō1870–1945teacher, criticised
- Tanabe Hajime1885–1962teacher, criticised
Tosaka Jun1900–1945
Influenced by
- Karl Marx1818–1883
- Nishida Kitarō1870–1945teacher, criticised
- Tanabe Hajime1885–1962teacher, criticised
Tosaka Jun1900–1945
Where these links come from
- Tosaka Jun drew on Karl Marx. Source: Bret W. Davis, The Kyoto School, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Tosaka Jun studied with and argued against Nishida Kitarō. Source: Bret W. Davis, The Kyoto School, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Tosaka Jun studied with and argued against Tanabe Hajime. Source: Bret W. Davis, The Kyoto School, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- The Philosophy of the Kyoto School, 1932
Sources
- Bret W. Davis, The Kyoto School, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy